Abstract
The chapter provides an overview of the history of Muslims in North America, tracing from the beginning of slavery to the present day. The discussion deals with dispelling the myths of Islam as a monolith not just globally but particularly in North America. It situates the various trends within the scholarship that have sought to account for the rise of Islam in North America while also trying to illustrate the diversity of the various communities by sect, race, gender, identity, sexuality, place of origin, and socioeconomic status, just to name a few. What should be clear is that this chapter attempts to trace two historical “lineages” of Muslims in America along race lines and thus connect early expressions of Islam in America with more recent ones. The chapter ends on a hopeful note with respect to both the continued flourishing of scholarship on this vibrant community and the lived experiences of the diverse members of the umma as they continue to face increased Islamophobia in the world.
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Barnsley, C. (2021). Experience of Muslims in North America. In: Lukens-Bull, R., Woodward, M. (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_16-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_16-1
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